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Arctic Council's Emergency Prevention Preparedness and Response Winter Meeting
JANUARY 25, 2021 — Over the past 2 weeks, the Arctic Council's Emergency Prevention Preparedness and Response (EPPR) Working Group held its winter meeting online. EPPR includes expert working groups on oil pollution, search and rescue, radiation emergencies, and wildfires. Normally the members meet in person, but due to the health emergency restrictions and circumpolar time zones, the meetings were held remotely for a few hours each day.
Each of the working groups held separate meetings the first week and two plenary sessions were held the second week. Specific topics included search and rescue in a maritime radiological/nuclear scenario (e.g., accident aboard a nuclear-powered vessel in the Arctic), oil pollution response in remote arctic communities, international collaboration in oil pollution research, circumpolar wildfire response, use of expedition cruise vessels as a resource in Arctic oil spill preparedness and response, low sulfur fuel oils in the arctic, arctic search and rescue coordination, COVID 10 pandemic response challenges, and other topics of mutual interest. The Russian Federation also outlined their intentions and planned meetings during the Russian Chairmanship of the Arctic Council in 2021-2023.
For more information contact Doug.Helton@noaa.gov.